Vets, refugees provide ‘Voices from the Long War’ at Yale

Yale veteran organizes Telling Project presentations

Iraqi refugee Ali Al Saadi working on his lines for “Voices From the Long War.”

Iraqi refugee Ali Al Saadi working on his lines for “Voices From the Long War.”

Photo: Maher Mahmood Photography

Photo: Maher Mahmood Photography

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Iraqi refugee Ali Al Saadi working on his lines for “Voices From the Long War.”

Iraqi refugee Ali Al Saadi working on his lines for “Voices From the Long War.”

Photo: Maher Mahmood Photography

Vets, refugees provide ‘Voices from the Long War’ at Yale

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NEW HAVEN >> Thursday at Yale: U.S. veterans and resettled refugees will tell dramatic stories about Iraq and Afghanistan.

The only side missing in the stage presentation “Voices From the Long War” are those of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, but that’s not possible right now, says the show’s organizer.

“I wanted to bring in stories that expanded the narration of war,” Thomas Berry said. “One of the scenes that does that dramatically, I feel, is our Marine veteran, Tom Burke, is confronted with a tough decision on whether he should shoot a young boy on a motorbike coming his way. At the same time, one of our Iraqi refugees was that boy in a situation in a Baghdad market where he was almost shot by U.S. troops.

“So by inter-splicing their words in the telling of the story, you see the parallel experience... The narrative is just a little bit wider than you get normally when you see these types of reflections on war.”

Executive producer Berry said after leaving the U.S. Army, he began attending Yale to pursue a graduate degree in global affairs.

“And at the time, I was struck by how strong the veterans community was coming back after the ROTC was reinstated a few years ago.”

Berry, 32, said he was in classes such as the International Security Studies’ Grand Strategy Program, where people were debating future policy on Iraq and Afghanistan by referencing recent events there.

“But I realized that while there were these, like, overt aspects of support, there wasn’t really a forum for people who don’t seek it out ... the human stories and experiences of war,” Berry said.

Seeking to affect the policy discourse, Berry said, he bounced around some ideas and, in the meantime, made friends with some refugees at Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services in New Haven, and decided he should do a documentary about the stories of veterans and refugees.

But in a visit to Washington, Berry met the founder of The Telling Project, a nonprofit that has been working with vets and vets’ families since 2008 to facilitate their speaking to communities about life in the military, and was encouraged to do a stage piece and film.

The Telling Project has done almost 40 of these events but just with veterans. Berry pitched a first inclusion of refugees in the process.

He said “Voices From the Long War” can really inform the process of Mideast policy, and he points to the ancient Greeks as a cautionary tale.

“They were fighting the Peloponnesian War and it became most problematic when the people at home, domestically, became disconnected with what was happening overseas ... and you saw certain blunders arise from that.

“So it’s part of my desire... to connect the people at home with authentic experiences of what happened at war. And then, what war means when people come home and live in their communities. Because all these veterans (in the show) are either Yale students or living in the New Haven community... either searching for home in terms of transition or — for the refugees — building it from scratch.”

That’s not to say the message always comes out anti-war.

“From the veterans’ side, and the refugee side, you zero in on the motivations for doing it (the war). And they were really good motivations... I don’t think it takes a stand on that... And there will be a talkback (led by Berry) if people want to explore those things.”

What it does do in terms of tipping the scales of people’s opinions is on domestic issues, he said.

“Many people, in the discourse about refugees and immigration, invoke the name of veterans and our sacrifice overseas as a justification in doing things like banning Muslims from entering our country,” Berry said. “We have a few Muslims (in the cast), all of whom supported our efforts overseas, and all of whom narrowly avoided assassination attempts — either them or their family (usually just for dealing with Americans).”

While both scheduled 8 p.m. performances April 28-29 at the Yale Cabaret are sold out, Berry is trying to set up a third performance at an alternative venue (stay tuned) and he is filming the experience for a potential documentary.

Asked if the show was like a military version of The Moth, Berry said, “It is a like a Moth with interwoven stories that create a general narrative. We did 25 hours of interviews. The Telling Project transcribed, and then (TP founder) Jonathan Wei took the lead in creating a script composed of the actors’ words in the interview. And it kind of follows a story.”

After that came read-throughs and rehearsals with Berry and director Kevin Hourigan of the Yale School of Drama, along with support from Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

On one side is the journey of going to war and on the other is being born in a country transformed by war, followed by the journey back home (or away from home), Berry said.

As for the after-war reflections, the vets talk about isolation and alienation despite being happy about society being grateful for their service — and knowing that the labels “hero” or “victim” don’t quite fit. The refugees also have to deal with labels, especially when they’re viewed as potential threats.

“There’s a story of that from one of our refugees,” said Berry. There’s the feeling that “every American he’s met that’s taken the time to know him loves him. But the vast majority that he meets are swayed more by the media than their personal experiences.”

Soldier-turned-Yalie Berry said his Yale, New Haven and Telling Project experiences resonate.

“If there’s anything I’ve realized since meeting very impressive practitioners at Yale, it is: Whoever sets the narrative drives the policy. So the key narrative here... is: Refugees, Muslim or not, are human, too. They’re not victims deserving of pity; they’re people that we can empower. When you place them next to veterans... it really comes out, the richness of that.”